South Korean biopharmaceutical firm Celltrion reported record first-quarter revenue and a sharp jump in profit, as robust global demand for its next-generation biosimilars improved margins.
Operating profit soared a whopping 870 percent from a year earlier to 149.4 billion won ($107 million) in the January-March period, while consolidated revenue rose 14.2 percent to 841.9 billion won, the South Korean biopharmaceutical firm said Friday.
The earnings boost was attributed to the end of amortization costs tied to past mergers, enhanced inventory management and strong performance from high-margin products.
Sales of key biosimilars, including Remsima SC, Yuflyma and Vegzelma, climbed more than 62 percent from a year earlier.
Yuflyma, a treatment for autoimmune diseases, posted more than 100 billion won in quarterly sales for the first time, rising 1.6 times year-on-year. Vegzelma, a cancer treatment, secured a 28 percent prescription share in Europe’s oncology biosimilar market, despite its relatively late market entry.
Celltrion plans to launch four new high-margin biosimilars in the second half of the year and begin full-scale production of titer-enhanced products. The company expects revenue from new and follow-up therapies to make up over 60 percent of total sales by year-end.
In drug development, Celltrion’s multispecific antibody CT-P72 demonstrated strong tumor suppression and low toxicity in preclinical studies presented at the 2025 American Association for Cancer Research meeting.
“We’ve laid the groundwork for both quantitative and qualitative growth this year through strong performance from our next-generation biosimilars and cost-efficiency gains,” a company official said. “With upcoming product launches and a solid new drug pipeline, we will continue to focus efforts on sustained growth.”
hyelimchung@heraldcorp.com
